No voice, no future? Roma ignored as Europe goes to polls

Pata-Rât is just a few miles outside Cluj-Napoca, in north-west Romania, but it feels a world away from the pretty streets and baroque architecture of the bustling city centre. Here, rubbish from the city and region is deposited in vast mounds, and the air is thick with the smell of rotting waste.

About 1,800 people call Pata-Rât home, almost all of them of Roma origin, living in depressing and unsanitary conditions in a makeshift camp backing onto a landfill site. Many were evicted from housing in the city centre and forced into the camp’s crowded huts.

Linda Zsiga, a 37-year-old Roma woman who spent several years living in Pata-Rât after she and her family were evicted with just two days notice from dwellings in central Cluj back in 2010, has been campaigning to close the site, and rehouse its residents in social housing inside the city. So far, she has had little success, despite government promises and pressure from European bodies.

Biker gang raid: What do we know about Al-Salam-313?

In a dawn raid, more than 500 police officers stormed 49 properties in eleven cities across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. What exactly do we know so far about the group that was targeted? DW investigates.

The objective of Wednesday’s major raid on the Al-Salam-313 biker gang was to collect and prepare evidence, and its preparation took several months, said Herbert Reul, interior minister for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). The gang is suspected of having committed a variety of crimes ranging from illegal weapons trading, people smuggling, passport forgery, and drug distribution. Police have identified 34 suspects, who are mainly of Iraqi and Syrian descent. The minister said the raid dealt a “blow to organized crime.”

Huawei’s own OS system may be ready this year: report

Chinese telecom giant Huawei says it could roll out its own operating system for smartphones and laptops in China by the autumn after the United States blacklisted the company, a report said Thursday.

The international version of the system could be ready in the first or second quarter of 2020, said Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business, told US channel CNBC.

The company was dealt a blow this week with Google’s decision to partially cut off Huawei devices from its Android OS following a US order banning the sale or transfer of American technology to the firm.

Botswana lifts ban on elephant hunting

Botswana has scrapped its ban on hunting, citing an increase in conflicts between elephants and humans during the five years the rule was in place.

The southern African nation, which is home to 130,000 elephants — or around one third of the continent’s population — imposed the ban in 2014 to deter poaching.

But while the elephants are popular with wildlife-loving tourists, locals have complained that they damage crops and affect livelihoods.

Japan hopes to avoid trade battle by wooing Trump with pomp

By Linda Sieg and Tim Kelly

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will treat U.S. President Donald Trump to an imperial banquet, front row seats at a sumo tournament and a trip to the country’s biggest warship on a state visit as Tokyo seeks to avoid a bust-up over trade.

New Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Harvard-educated Empress Masako will host a lavish dinner for Trump during his stay from May 25 through May 28, part of a display meant to showcase the two countries’ alliance.

The U.S. leader will become the first foreign dignitary to be so honored since the monarch inherited the throne this month. Trump will also play golf with Abe and inspect Japan’s Kaga helicopter carrier.